Imposter
by IronicVeghead
Summary: ["Little baby Crock. Least talented of her criminal family, and the least talented of her perfect team. Give up already, you'll always lag behind. In speed, in brains, and in love," He spat, in a perfect replication of Wally's voice that had Artemis wavering in her determination.] A Oneshot based on the Psimon battle in Young Justice Legacy. Spitfire.


**Hello everyone!**

** I know I haven't written anything in a while and I'm very sorry about that! I've gotten a part-time job that is taking up all of my freetime, although the money is good! I actually have over nine fic outlines hanging out in my google docs right now, but I have no idea when I'll have time to write any of them. But please know that I have by no means left this fandom! I'll probably be here forever, honestly. Just writing spitfire as my hair turns grey, giggling why my deaf husband grumbles about "those damn redheads". Yes. That is my future.**

**So I've based this fic off of the Psimon battle in Young Justice Legacy. There are videos of it up on youtube if you want to get a better understanding of what's going on, but I hope I've written it clear enough for those who haven't seen the battle to comprehend. Please enjoy!**

* * *

"Kid!" Artemis yelled, her voice dissipating sharply into the cloudy atmosphere surrounding her and her teammates. She dodged a fist and swiveled around to check on her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye.

"I-I can't help you Artemis, I'm sorry," Wally's voice was strangled as he held a gloved hand to his ribs, his knees digging into the cracked tile below them. He winced and sucked in a quick couple of breaths, trying to regain steady breathing, his ability to speak being taken over by the necessity to gather as much air as he could.

"Artemis! You need to focus! I'll get Psimon but you have to distract the doppelganger!" Dick's voice rang out from across the platform as Artemis lept to the side to avoid another hit, "KF will be fine! Remember, none of this is real!" He grunted as he landed a hit on Psimon, the vibrations of the attack reverberating in waves into the deep purple fog of the surrounding area.

The archer took a deep breath, attempting to level her heartbeat as Wally's doppelganger smirked at her a few feet ahead. Dick was right. This wasn't real. As soon as they beat Psimon, they would wake up and Wally wouldn't be injured anymore.

She kind of really wished that Wally hadn't come on this mission.

Dick and Artemis's own doppelgangers were tough, but they were outnumbered by Wally and Artemis's synchronized fighting style, Dick having taken on Psimon by himself in hopes to bring the battle in this twisted world to an end.

Everything was fine until Artemis's doppelganger got a good hit in on Wally. The doppelgangers seemed to the original's memories at their disposal, and used them to their advantage. One whimpered plea from the phony blonde had Wally hesitating on the final blow, costing him a few ribs and Artemis her battle partner.

Now she was facing the doppelganger of the speedster who knew her every move, and she wasn't doing very well.

"Just give up already," The doppelganger sneered, "It's not like you could actually beat me,"

"If you have his memories then you know that's not true," Artemis shot back, aiming some quick shots his way that he easily dodged. She grimaced, it always came down to hand to hand combat with speedsters. The copy laughed as he raced around, his boots echoing on the tiles and the bubbling black smoke he resonated dripping off of his shoulders and elbows.

Artemis forced herself to watch his eyes, bright, glowing white eyes tilted in malice that proved it was not her boyfriend she was fighting. She shot off another round of arrows before rolling to the side to avoid a collision. The doppelganger laughed.

"Poor little Arty can't keep up," He mocked, skidding to a stop in front of the blonde with his fist thrown out. Artemis blocked it and parried with a swinging punch to his ribs that didn't connect. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

The archer caught his uppercut and aimed for his throat, but he leaned back in time to let her follow through in air, his opposite hand pushing her arm against her shoulder to hold her still while his open palm went to break her nose. Artemis managed to pull up a leg kick in time to disorient his aim but only managed to push him out of arm's reach. She grit her teeth and set her stance for strength.

"Little baby Crock. Least talented of her criminal family, and the least talented of her perfect team. Give up already, you'll always lag behind. In speed, in brains, and in _love_," He spat, in a perfect replication of Wally's voice that had Artemis wavering in her determination.

"That's not true!" She shot back, launching herself at the doppelganger with a warcry and a flurry of punches and kicks that were too emotionally backed to have any kind of solid path. The copy dodged them easily, walking backwards as he continued to speak in Wally's voice, with Wally's bright red hair, and with Wally's dimples marring Wally's face.

"How could you possibly think that you deserve me!" He laughed, turning up his nose at her, "Me! A superhero with _real_ superpowers! A genius with a loving family! Actually being in love with _you_? It's a _joke_. You're not a real superhero, you're a glorified athlete with a criminal past! You'll never amount to anything!" Wally continued to jeer, now catching her fists and shoving them back with enough force to throw the blonde off balance in her momentum. "You're majoring in comparative literature! You're never even going to get a real job with that crap!"

He lashed out suddenly with a swing that caught Artemis's chin and threw her backwards, jarring her shoulder as she landed roughly on an upturned tile. The speedster stood over her when the blackness clouding the edges of her eyes from pain finally receded. His bright teeth glowing as bright as the white pupilless eyes glaring down at her with a nasty sneer. The smoke from his body bubbled over her skin, rustling like crumbled leaves and swallowing her discarded bow from her sight.

"I could never love you," Wally stated simply, his sneer drawing back to features of disgust as he regarded her form. He tilted his head at her for a moment before turning to stride towards where Dick was still fighting Psimon and Artemis realized the mistake she had made.

She had been fooled, if only briefly, by a fake. She had let his words twist her mind and break her spirit. And now her friends would pay for it.

Artemis would _not_ make the same mistake again.

"You're wrong," She grit out between her teeth, pushing her palm against her throbbing shoulder as she sat up, forcing herself to ignore the pain. The archer rose with knitted brows, her legs shaky but sturdy. The doppelganger had turned with a smirk and an upturned eyebrow.

"Oh, so you want to go for round two?" He questioned lightly, giving her his full attention once more.

"Power doesn't make you a superhero," Artemis started, standing tall, "Your heart does,"

The doppelganger gave one hearty laugh before leaning down into Wally's favorite attack position, "You just try and prove that to me, Second-Rate," He scoffed.

Artemis was the one to smirk this time. She hadn't been treating her opponent as Wally before, only a speedster. But each speedster had their own style, and she knew Wally's well.

He ran at her, shoulder dropped and head tucked to the side, so she waited until he was a touch away and slipped to the side, catching his ankle with a side sweep and his arm with her own. He stumbled forward and Artemis used the momentum to throw him to the side, ramming the butt of her elbow between his shoulder blades as he fell. He gave a very loud yelp and it took Artemis only seconds to follow him to the floor, grabbing one of his hands and twisting his elbow back as she stuck her knee in where she'd stuck his back. The doppelganger gasped and Artemis snarled, leaning into him as she began to speak.

"I have earned everything that's mine. I have earned my title as a superhero, and I have earned Wally's love, and I have earned my education. But I don't need _any_ of those to kick your sorry ass. It doesn't matter who is strongest, or who is smarter, so long as what needs to get done, _gets done_," Artemis hissed in his ear, ignoring the whimpers of protest from the copy as she continued twisting his arm, "I will save the world because I _can_. I will someday major in comparative literature because I fucking _like it_. And I will be with Wally West because I love him with my whole _goddamn heart_. And _you_ are a figment of imagination who will never change any of that,"

And with that, she took her free hand and smashed the doppelganger's head against the tile, her palm landing on the stone as his body broke into crinkling fog beneath her.

Artemis blinked a few times, making sure that the copy was really gone, before sharply turning her head around to look for her teammates. Dick stuck out easily against the pink tinted fog, his black suit outlining his continued attacks against Psimon.

And then there was Wally. He was where she'd last seen him, collapsed on his knees, palms to his chest, breathing heavily, deliberately. But he was watching her, the corners of his lips tilted up and his eyes beaming at her with pride. She stood, gathering her footing against the crumbled surface, and ran to him.

He grinned at her the best he could with his injury, but before she could reach him a yell shot out into the air, rocking the platform as red bursts of light shot out from the floor. Artemis could only manage to yell out her teammate's names before everything fell black.

* * *

"-temis,"

"-on Mis,"

"-smark,"

"-to me Babe,"

Artemis awoke very groggily, her hearing slowly returning before she could finally crack her eyes open to gather the low lighted view of a circus tent. Her head ached a bit as she tried to piece together what had happened.

"Babe, you feelin' okay?" Wally's head popped into view, hovering over her with his brows tilted in concern.

Ah. She remembered now.

"What happened to Psimon?" Artemis asked, taking Wally's proffered hand as he helped her sit up, one hand held to the throbbing in in temple, "Dr. Sandsmark?"

Wally gave her a lopsided smile and ran a hand fondly across the top of her head until it rested on the back of her neck, "We beat Psimon, and the Doc is safe now, Dick's talking to her at the moment,"

Artemis hummed in affirmation and leaned into her boyfriend, relishing his warmth and comfort. He pulled her head closer to his own and pressed a kiss to the fabric of her mask covering her forehead. She smiled and took his hand. These moments were some of her favorite, the amorous physical contact they shared after a hard battle, just two lovers reassuring each other that they're still there.

"You did good, Babe," Wally commented, attempting to bring up the subject lightly, "Sorry I couldn't help. I couldn't even gather the breath to speak," He lamented.

Artemis let out a breathy laugh, "Thanks," was all she could muster, she wasn't quite sure what else she had to say.

"And I know you don't need to hear it, but I just want to remind you," Wally started, and Artemis knew where it was going but she didn't stop him. It was nice to collect these kind of thoughts for rainy days, after all. "I want you to remember that I love you, Artemis. Wholly and completely. Nothing will ever change that, nothing ever has," He spoke with his forehead pressed against the side of her head, his eyelashes brushing strands of her hair and his warm breath fanning over her cheek. She threaded her hand with his free digits and smiled.

"I won't forget that again, I love you too Wally," Artemis answered him softly, the words solely for his ears, and for his heart to keep.

Because it was true, she didn't _need_ their love to be who she was.

But she damn well wanted it.

And she would crush anyone who got in the way of it.

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**Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!**

**TheRantDragon or SpitfireRantDragon as she is known on Tumblr, has written a companion piece to this! It's the same situation, but this time, it's Wally who has to fight Artemis's doppelganger!**

**Please leave a review!**

**Love, Veg**


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